


sweet like honey

by sunhei



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Bickering, F/M, Idiots in Love, Isle of Armour fic, Mild Language, Post-Canon, sorry avery i bought sword
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:40:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25157140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunhei/pseuds/sunhei
Summary: “You don’t think I’m cute?” asks Gloria.Bede’s thoughts scatter like dandelion seeds to the wind.What?“What does that have to do with anything,” he manages.-or:bederia undertaking the dojo challenge together on the isle of armour. they have a jolly good time
Relationships: Beet | Bede/Yuuri | Gloria
Comments: 26
Kudos: 121





	sweet like honey

It’s a blessing to be nobody again.

The Isle of Armour brims with the unfamiliar faces of people and Pokémon alike. For the first time in many months, Gloria is free to stroll around without huge sunnies and gigantic floppy hats obscuring her face.

“It’s paradise, isn’t it,” she says to Dragapult. Dragapult wags his tail happily.

These days, the only time she’s afforded this level of anonymity is when traveling to other regions. The regional variance is always interesting to behold: Kalos treats her like a clueless tourist, Sinnoh treats her with polite indifference, and everyone else falls somewhere vaguely in between. Weirdly enough, Hoenn is the only place where she’s actually stopped for autographs on the street. It’s probably her connection to Kabu, but she’s never been able to confirm this with anyone.

Gloria basks in the midday warmth and gentle sea breeze, dallying beneath swaying trees and sinking her bare feet into the sand. The sky goes on forever here.

She wants to stay for a very long time.

Not even Klara puts a damper on Gloria’s good mood. She challenges Gloria as soon as she arrives, sending out two sleepy-eyed Poison-type Pokémon to do battle with Gloria’s excitable Dragapult. It doesn’t take long at all.

“Unbelievable!” Klara cries, stomping her foot against the sand. “Why is a kid like you this _strong_?”

“Just got lucky, I suppose,” Gloria says innocently.

They part ways after Klara warns her not to visit the dojo (so naturally, she’s going to do precisely that). Gloria picks her way down the beach to admire the glassy blue waves and brightly coloured flowers, stopping every now and then to violently shake trees for their pretty acorns.

Five months of being Galar’s mighty Champion has catapulted her into dizzying new heights of fame. She really can’t go anywhere without being accosted, so even something as mundane as shaking a tree is bound to draw attention. She can picture the headlines now: STARS, THEY’RE JUST LIKE US: CHAMPION GLORIA SHAKES TREES FOR TWO SITRUS BERRIES. It’d been entertaining and rather sweet at first, but nowadays she’d much prefer to have her privacy.

“Tough gig, isn’t it?” Hop had quipped during one of her visits to Wedgehurst. He couldn’t look her in the eye as he said it, instead puttering around the lab and chatting over his shoulder as he sorted through Sonia’s lab reports.

That had been… worrying. But she’d quickly dismissed it as Hop being Hop, always distracted by shiny new things on the horizon. Hop’s newest goal required his undivided attention and, just like the Gym Challenge, it could absolutely not wait. That’s all there is to it, probably.

She’d thought of inviting Hop to the Isle of Armour with her but ultimately decided against it. Something had stopped her mid-text.

Marnie couldn’t make it either. ‘ _cant this time luv, but next time for sure xoxo_ ’ she’d said.

Dragapult jolts her from her doldrums with a soft chirp. Gloria strokes his silky head and murmurs a soft thanks, ready to resume her adventuring.

Her wandering eventually brings her to a grassy knoll teeming with Bunearys and Jigglypuffs. Dragapult floats over to them with a happy series of ‘meeps,’ allowing its twin Dreepys free rein over the area. Gloria sits down in the grass beside them, content to simply relax for a few moments.

A shadow falls over her.

“It’s you,” says a familiar voice.

Gloria tilts her head back, the better to squint at her interloper. Someone’s massive fluffy head is eclipsing the sun.

“God?” she asks.

Bede frowns down at her, distinctly unimpressed. He never did have patience for her brand of humour.

“What are you doing here?” she asks, since he plainly refuses to respond to that last bit.

“Training, of course.” He tosses a Pokeball in the air and out pops Hatterene with a pleased cry.

“Commendable,” says Gloria sagely. “Such dedication.”

“I can’t say the same for you,” Bede observes. He nods at a tiny gaggle of Jigglypuff in the center of the grass. Hatterene drifts over to it with crackling psychic energy.

“I train,” says Gloria. “But part of that training is resting. I’m sure Opal taught you that, didn’t she?”

“Ms Opal taught me twenty different ways to utilise Misty Terrain during double battles. She also taught me how to prepare an annoyingly perfect cup of tea,” says Bede as he studies Hatterene’s movements. “Rest is the one thing she did _not_ teach me.”

“Then why don’t you learn?”

“It’s not something one needs to learn,” says Bede. “It’s easy enough to just _do._ ”

Gloria pats the spot next to her. “Have a seat, then,” she says. “I can start a pot of curry for us both.”

Bede frowns like she’s just pelted him with a complex maths problem.

“I’m busy,” he says.

“No you’re not,” says Gloria. She points at Hatterene, who’s already taken care of the feisty little Jigglypuffs. Hatterene floats over to Gloria and hums softly at her. “You’re hungry, and so is she. So _sit._ ”

  
  


-

  
  


Gloria’s good with a knife. Bede has no clue what he’ll do with this knowledge. It makes her more of a threat, he supposes, but it’s not like she could start hurling knives in the middle of an exhibition match.

“Not too fast,” she scolds him gently as they take turns stirring the pot. Bede rolls his eyes but does as he’s told.

“Why are _you_ here?” he asks her as they eat. The curry is surprisingly good. Hatterene and Sylveon love it to bits, munching happily and with much gusto, and Gloria’s Pokémon seem equally delighted.

“To train,” says Gloria.

“That wasn’t what you were doing when I found you,” says Bede.

“Yes it was.”

“No it wasn’t.”

Gloria laughs into her water canteen. “There’s a dojo,” she says. “I’m here for that.”

“Then why aren’t you there now?”

“Because I’m having lunch with you.”

“You could easily have had lunch there.”

“Do you dislike my company that much?” Gloria’s words are light and lilting, phrased as a joke, but Bede doesn’t miss the way her shoulders sag.

“You’re… tolerable,” he says.

“Cheers,” Gloria says, spooning more curry onto his plate.

“What about…?” Bede frowns, trying and failing to recall the former Champion’s name. Not to mention his impatient younger brother. “The previous Champion’s brother,” he says.

Gloria eyes him strangely. She’s not very good at concealing her judgment, but then, neither is he.

“Hop?”

“Yes, Hop.”

“He’s busy,” says Gloria glumly. “So is Marnie.”

That made perfect sense. Gym Leaders were already in the midst of preparing for the next Gym Challenge. Bede himself came to the Isle of Armour for intensive training, tired of running the same drills ad nauseam at the Gym. It’s all to find the new heights of pink, or whatever rubbish Ms Opal had come up with.

Bede could care less what Hop is up to.

“That’s a good thing,” says Bede. Gloria tilts her head in confusion. “You have no distractions,” he clarifies.

“Distractions,” Gloria echoes hollowly. Her spoon clatters against her empty plate as she turns this over in her mind. There’s something rueful and sad about the way she slumps over. “I’m not so sure about that,” she murmurs.

Silence falls between them for precisely ten seconds.

Then Gloria turns to face him, a funny look on her face. This doesn’t bode well.

“Who are you close with?” she asks.

“Pardon?”

“Your friends.” She doesn’t add, ‘ _you have them, don’t you?’_ in a condescending way, but she doesn’t exactly have to.

“Hatterene,” Bede answers. “My entire team, actually, but mostly her.”

“What about Ms Opal?”

“Absolutely not.” Even he’s surprised by how forcefully that comes out. “She’s a mentor. We’re not equals.”

“What about me?” Gloria asks. She doesn’t smile as she says this, so chances are slim that she’d meant it as a joke. Bede scrambles for a suitable answer.

“You’re the Champion,” he says. “I am only interested in defeating you.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t think I’m cute?”

Bede’s thoughts scatter like dandelion seeds to the wind. _What?_

“What does that have to do with anything,” he manages.

Gloria grins like a Perrserker. “Just curious,” she says. “What’s your type, anyhow?”

This conversation is getting stranger by the minute. Bede is entirely out of his element here. “Fairy,” he says warily. “But you already knew that.”

“No, no. Your _type_. The sort of person you fancy. The ones that get you all hot n’ bothered.”

“I don’t understand,” says Bede.

“Someone you’d like to kiss,” Gloria explains.

The space between them is suddenly very obvious. They’re not sitting beside each other all that close, but Bede can still sense the warmth from her body. If she were to extend an arm, she would easily hit him in the shoulder.

“I don’t want to kiss anyone,” Bede says.

Gloria doesn’t seem convinced. “How about Hop?”

His disgusted frown makes her rock backwards with delighted laughter.

“Marnie?”

“This is ridiculous,” mutters Bede.

“Hmm, okay. Me?”

Bede’s hand twitches in his lap. She’s much too gleeful about this. He’d always known Gloria to be the impish, sly sort, a veritable Morgrem when playfully teasing others, but this is new.

“Are you offering?” Bede asks.

They both stare at each other in shock.

Gloria cracks up. She keels over with the rudest snort and laughs into the space between her knees, drawing the attention of passersby and random wild Pokemon. Hatterene’s tinkling laughter follows not long after. Bede sends her a disapproving frown, but it does nothing to stop her.

“Stop laughing,” he grumbles.

Gloria does not stop laughing.

Irritated, Bede stands with his plate and reaches for hers too, tugging it neatly out of her hands as she continues to snicker shamelessly. It really wasn’t that funny, in his opinion. He tells her so.

“But it _was,_ ” Gloria counters, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Who knew fussy ol’ Bede could be so charming.”

“That was sarcasm, not charm,” Bede mutters as he fills a pan with water and reaches for the bar of soap. He can’t cook very well, but cleaning is something he can do just fine.

“If you say so, Bede,” says Gloria peaceably.

He lets it slide, not rising to her bait. They finish cleaning up together and set off to the dojo not long after, bellies full and resolves hardened for the challenge ahead. Hatterene and Dragapult float after them like happy balloons, giddy at the newfound freedom they have.

The dojo is a dusty little thing. It’s anachronistic and maybe a tad bit racist, but who’s to say, really. Mustard sounds like a proper old white man’s name, and Ms Opal, who’s as white as they come, has her fill of stories about him in their youth (“Loud and ostentatious, a real penchant for theatrics and style over substance… a dreadful combination,” she’d muttered about his method of battling).

Bede wonders if there are any resident Kantonians running around the dojo, and what they would think of Mustard’s… flair. Or even Kabu, for that matter.

“I heard that the previous Champion never made it here,” Bede tells Gloria as they approach the dojo’s main doors. “Clearly he hadn’t needed it, but perhaps the extra training would have prepared him for you.”

Gloria goggles at him like a beached Magikarp. “Who did what now?”

“...the former Champion. The man you dethroned five months ago.”

“Yes, him. Why would he come here? How would it have prepared him for me?”

Bede stares.

“...Mustard was the Champion before Leon,” he says slowly.

Gloria’s eyes widen. “Whoah,” she says. “I had no idea.”

Hatterene lets out a tiny noise of disapproval from behind them. She’s probably sensing the thick waves of irritation and envy rolling off of him. His aura must be dark as pitch.

“ _How_ ,” he says.

Gloria blinks, smiling uneasily. “How what?”

' _How did you become Champion without knowing these things,_ ’ the Bede of yesteryear would have snarled. ‘ _How did you coast your way to the top without studying monomaniacally, without hyperfixating on every last detail of previous Champions’ styles like I did. How did you accomplish so much on your first try, and how can you so unthinkingly stare back at me with that stupid smile on your face._ ’

He takes a breath and swallows it down. Pick your battles, Ms Opal always told him.

“Never mind,” he says, brushing past her to shoulder open one of the doors.

  
  


-

  
  


Mustard is every bit the wizened old bat Bede had imagined him to be.

“Oh ho, and who do we have here?”

“Bede, sir,” says Bede. Mustard flashes him a jaunty little smile, pleased as pie for no good reason. Bede inwardly recoils; he’s never understood people who smiled excessively. It seems disingenuous and smarmy, somehow.

“Yes yes, that’s right. Opal told me about you. We received her letter just last week.”

Because Ms Opal cannot for the life of her figure out the bloody Y-Comm or even _email._ Right.

“And you must be Gloria,” says Mustard, turning his cheerful gaze on her. He really does smile too much for someone purported to be an absolute demon in battle. Ms Opal probably resented his stubborn optimism and good cheer when they were younger. She’s always been dreadfully droll, humour as dry as tinder. Bede likes this about her; he wishes Mustard were the same.

Gloria hurries to bow because she’s an utter girl scout at heart. Maybe that farmgirl sincerity is what makes her so popular with fans. Not that Bede reads their comments on RotoGram, or anything.

“It’s a pleasure, sir,” Gloria says, stars in her eyes.

A woman with garish pink hair and a gaudy oversized butterfly headband walks over to them with a scowl. She peers down her nose at Bede, smiling hatefully.

“Pardon me, sir, but I think there’s only room for _one_ new student,” she says in a honeyed voice. It’s her voice that jogs his memory all of a sudden; this is Klara, a Gym leader from the Minor Leagues. They’ve only met once or twice, and both times had been utterly forgettable and purely for business. Judging from her uniform, she’s an expert in Poison types.

Bede loathes her already.

“Nonsense, there’s plenty of room for two,” says Mustard breezily.

Bede smiles like Ms Opal taught him to, bright and only a little feral. A dazzling gleam, if you will. “Thank you, sir,” he says, bowing.

Mustard winks at him. “I think it’s time for our first Challenge then, don’t you?”

  
  


_-_

  
  


Chasing Slowpokes is not at all what Gloria had envisioned she’d be doing at the dojo, but she can’t complain; it’s a _blast_ to sprint around at full tilt, whooping and hollering after them.

“Would you _stop that_ ,” Bede snaps, wiping the sweat from his brow.

“It’s fun,” Gloria insists, waving a hand at him. She darts around a pond brimming with Chewtles and gets ready to intercept that last stubborn Slowpoke.

In the end, she captures it with help from a thoroughly disgruntled Bede who won’t stop muttering under his breath about annoying old geezers and their sadistic, pointless challenges. The two of them return to the dojo triumphant and positively covered in sweat.

“Excellent work, you two!” Mustard chortles. “I had a hunch you’d be special!”

There’s no time to gloat, though—after that, they’re off to hunt glowy mushrooms.

“I thought we’d be battling each other sunrise to sundown,” says Bede as they traipse through the wetlands en route to the caves.

“I’m always up for a battle,” says Gloria over her shoulder. “But isn’t this more fun?”

For the second time today, Bede ignores her in favour of siccing Hatterene on a poor, defenseless Pokemon--Cubone, this time--wandering around without its mother.

“Bit harsh, don’t you think?” Gloria says after Hatterene decimates Cubone with a single blow.

“He’ll live,” says Bede dismissively. “Orphans are a wily bunch.”

Gloria shoots him a look of surprise, eyebrows raising in concern, but Bede just keeps walking.

Of course Klara intercepts them right as they reach the bloody mushrooms.

“Those mushrooms are mine, kid,” she growls, jabbing a perfectly manicured nail at Gloria’s face.

Gloria reaches for her Pokeball instinctively, only to have Bede cut neatly in front of her.

“I’ll handle this,” he says sharply. “Go fetch those infernal mushrooms in the meantime.”

Klara titters, sugary-sweet and honestly rather grating. Like nails on a chalkboard.

“You sure you want to do that, dear? Poison types don’t play well with Fairy,” she says.

“Big talk from a trainer that’s stuck in the Minor Leagues,” says Bede drily.

Gloria would have brought popcorn along for the ride if she’d known they’d squabble like this. She settles for yanking the damn mushrooms out of the ground instead.

  
  


-

  
  


Bede wins against Klara rather handily. (It’s embarrassing to imagine what would have happened had he _not_.)

“Impressive,” Gloria says, ogling him with something akin to awe.

“Don’t patronise me,” Bede says.

“You really don’t know how to take a bloody compliment, do you,” Gloria says.

They arrive back at the dojo in due time. Bede’s stomach growls during the little powwow that takes place after their most recent challenge. Ms Honey hears it and laughs behind her hand.

Their meal is halfway decent, and after that, Gloria receives the dojo’s underwhelming secret armour: a tiny thing named _Kubfu_ that barely comes up to Bede’s knees.

Gloria’s next challenge is to befriend Kubfu, which thrills her beyond anything else.

They walk along the sandy white beaches until they reach the other side of the Isle, Sharpedos ripping through the waves from afar and ticking Hatterene off. Kubfu toddles along after Gloria and mimics her movements every time she punches the air out of excitement. Bede has no clue what he’s doing here with them; this isn’t _training,_ and it hasn’t been for hours now.

“Kubfu, look at that!” Gloria enthuses, pointing at the skyline. Kubfu pumps his little fists and dances around with Gloria, and somehow this bonds them together.

During a curry break that’s more for their Pokémon than for themselves, Bede turns to Gloria and asks: “Is this your secret, then?”

Gloria looks up from where she’s squatting with Kubfu, an obscene number of toys and trinkets gathered around her. She waves a PokeToy around and says, “How do you mean?”

“Your brilliant strategy,” Bede clarifies. “To win.”

“PokeToys?”

“No,” says Bede impatiently. He’s beginning to realise that she feigns obtuseness whenever confronted with hard questions. He files this information away for later and says, “Camping. Friendships. I don’t know.”

“You could say that,” says Gloria. “But that hardly makes me special. You do it too, don’t you? Your Sylveon is proof of that. Not to mention Hatterene,” she says affectionately, and Hatterene coos her approval.

“Yes, and that’s my point exactly: how does it make you special? How does it give you a leg up on the rest of the competition?” Bede insists. “How do you make it _work_?”

The frustration leaking into his voice stops Gloria in her tracks. She stills, sending him that same look from before: uneasy, riddled with guilt, and filled with quiet understanding.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” she says. “I’m sorry if that’s not what you want to hear.”

“So then it must be raw talent,” says Bede, lip curling with poorly concealed bitterness. “You’re just that special. You were born with it.”

“No,” says Gloria hesitantly.

“ _Don’t_ tell me it’s luck,” says Bede.

“It’s not luck, either,” says Gloria. “Honestly Bede, I don’t know what it is. It just feels… _right_ , somehow. Like I’ve been waiting all my life for this. And every Pokémon I meet seems to recognise it, too, and they’re happy to help where they can. Not all of them, of course, and my boxes at the Pokémon center can attest to that, but… yeah, I guess that’s it. This is my life, my passion, and I love it. And now that I’ve discovered it, I’m not going to let anyone take it away from me.”

Silence falls between them, but it’s not strained or awkward. It feels natural, it feels right. Bede stares at Gloria pensively, observing the trembling in her hands and the smudge of mud on her left ankle. She’s really quite ragtag, this farmgirl from Postwick. Perhaps she’d faced a similar wave of naysayers from the start. There had been no family connections, no Champion older brother to lead the way. Just an overworked single mother and a modest house in the countryside filled with happy little blossoms.

“...you’d best prepare yourself, then,” Bede says eventually. Gloria glances at him, eyebrows raising. “I plan on taking it from you during the next Gym Challenge.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Gloria says, grinning ear to ear.

  
  


-

  
  


After Gloria blazes through the Tower of Darkness, she zips back to the dojo (on her sparkly new bike, no less) with her massive Urshifu in tow. Hatterene mopes around now that her darling baby Kubfu is all grown up, but she seems overly fond of Urshifu, too. Urshifu’s rugged face belies a gentle and quiet personality, one that is horribly at odds with Gloria’s pep and unshakeable energy level.

Neither of them expects to see Hop.

Gloria gapes at him for a good ten seconds. “ _Hop?_ ” she exclaims.

Hop’s eyes nearly pop out of his skull. “Gloria?!”

They are honestly the two most irritating people on the face of the earth, and Bede wants dearly to sic Hatterene on them like they’re unsuspecting wild Pokemon just chilling in the tall grass. But Ms Opal would probably not want murder on his permanent record. A shame.

“I thought you were busy at the lab,” says Gloria, puzzled but clearly happy.

Hop doesn’t seem to share her happiness. He awkwardly scratches the back of his head and says, “Er, yeah. I’m just here to do some research for Sonia. Studying Dynamax and all that.”

“Ah,” says Gloria, smile fading.

Hop glances at Bede next. The dismay on his face is pure gold; Bede relishes in it without saying anything.

“You’re here too, eh?”

“Of course I am,” says Bede smoothly. “It’s the best place for _professional trainers_ to sharpen their skills, isn’t it.”

Hop clicks his tongue, agitated. “Right,” he says.

Mustard intervenes before things get any uglier. He sends Gloria off to fetch some type of honey with horribly unclear instructions. Hop, galvanised by this challenge, butts in with sudden enthusiasm and races off before Gloria to go find the mystery substance.

Mustard glances at Bede sideways with a cunning little smile on his face.

“There’s plenty of honey to go around,” he says. “Why don’t you join them before they leave you behind?”

“Because I have better things to do than chase after the Champion and her trusty sidekick,” says Bede wryly.

Mustard chortles like the annoying old man he is. “If you say so, kiddo,” he says, wandering off to go play his Switch.

  
  


-

  
  


“You’re sure it’s produced by Flapples?” Gloria repeats, wandering through the forest after they’ve reunited Petilil with her worried mum.

“Positive,” says Hop over his shoulder. The sight of his back is a familiar one, but right now it’s not all that comforting.

Hop lets her do the tree-shaking. She gets clocked right in the head for it, ouch.

It’s not the Flapple sap, so she nearly concusses herself for absolutely nothing. Brilliant.

“Maybe don’t… eat that…” says Gloria as Hop scoops some sap into his mouth. Bede isn’t here right now to say something snarky, but Gloria has a few ideas about what he _would_ say. The thought makes her snort with laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Hop asks, puzzled.

“Nothing,” says Gloria. “Just Bede.”

“Bede,” says Hop with an unhappy little smile. “Right…”

They eventually find their way to Honeycalm Island, because Hop has an epiphany right after he’s crammed some dubious Flapple sap into his mouth, and Gloria is more than content to follow his lead.

“This is it,” says Hop with a glint in his eye. He stops at the base of a giant tree that sits dead-center on the tiny island, grinning at something Gloria can’t quite see.

“Is it?” she asks, squinting. Maybe there’s a beehive stuck somewhere in the branches.

“Yes, I think so!” Hop says, turning back to her with an excited grin. “Go on then—give it a shake!”

So Gloria does, because she’s very good at vigorously shaking trees like a madwoman.

And then all hell breaks loose.

  
  


-

  
  


Inside the damn tree there’s a humongo Vespiquen that is _very pissed off_ and oh shit the only Pokémon currently in her party is her newly evolved Urshifu, whose dual Fighting and Dark-type matchup is disadvantageous and frankly, really fucking bad.

Gloria panics, whipping around to search for Hop, because Dubwool would have a much better chance at subduing an angry queen bee than Urshifu ever would.

But Hop isn’t there. No one is.

Urshifu takes massive damage within seconds of exchanging blows with Vespiquen. Furious winds tear at both Urshifu and Gloria’s faces, stinging their eyes and blowing them back a few good yards.

“Why didn’t I bring Zacian,” yells Gloria over the raging winds. “Why didn’t I bring Charizard, why didn’t I—”

The familiar cry of a Gigantamaxed Hatterene booms throughout the den. Gloria crumples to her knees, bracing a hand against Urshifu’s wounded shoulder, and stares gobsmacked at the comforting pinks and blues of Bede’s dear Hatterene.

Bede yells out commands that Gloria can only partially hear through the furious cries of the warring gigantic Pokémon. The ensuing flash of light is too brilliant to behold; Gloria throws an arm over her face at the last second, heart hammering in her chest, throat tight with fear and relief in equal measure.

With one final roar and an explosion that shakes their entire world, Vespiquen vanishes from the den and all is quiet.

A hand comes down to rest on Gloria’s shoulder.

“Here,” says Bede. He drops a full restore into her lap.

She looks up at him, still shaken and scared stiff. His eyes are tight with worry and maybe even a hint of irritation, but there’s nothing hard or judgmental about the way he’s watching her. He stares at her like there’s nothing else in the world; like it’s just the two of them huddled together in the eye of the storm.

“Thank you,” says Gloria hoarsely. She coughs and clears her throat.

  
  


-

  
  


Hop’s beside himself with fear and relief when Gloria and Bede re-emerge from the Vespiquen’s den.

“Gloria!” he cries, rushing to her. He wraps her up in a fierce hug and whispers endless apologies into her hair. “I’m so, so sorry, I didn’t—I couldn’t—I had no clue that—”

“It’s alright, Hop, really,” says Gloria in a decent imitation of her regular voice. Bede idles behind them and wonders if Hop hears how shaken she is, or if he’s too wrapped up in his own guilt to realise how terrified she’d been back there.

“I put you in danger, Glo,” says Hop desperately, shaking his head and backing away. Bede turns neatly away so that neither of them sees him roll his eyes.

“Lucky Bede was there to save me,” says Gloria with a little laugh.

Bede glances at Hop’s face out of morbid curiosity, and his expression is utterly delicious: he looks constipated and ashamed all at once, torn between thanking Bede profusely or cussing him out for stealing his moment of glory.

“Yeah,” says Hop begrudgingly. “Lucky he was.”

Gloria holds out the honey they’ve gathered and Hop eyes it in awe and relief, but Bede doesn’t miss the way he rubs his arm and shifts uneasily from foot to foot.

“Guess I’ll, er, head back first, then,” he says, already turning to leave.

Gloria furrows her brow. “Wait, why?”

Hop can’t quite meet her eyes. “No reason, just, er, y’know,” he says, gesturing vaguely. “Gotta run, Sonia needs help and all, lab stuff, the works.”

“Then go,” says Bede dismissively.

Hop winces. Gloria stares at him like he’s gone mad. Bede bites the inside of his cheek to keep himself from barking at them both to stop wasting everyone’s time already, he came to _train_ , god dammit, and not to watch their tearful theatrics.

“Right,” says Hop, a funny look coming over his face. He darts a glance between Gloria and Bede, brows pinching together. “I’ll see you,” he says, waving hesitantly. Then, like a complete cliché, he speeds off into the sunset.

The two of them watch Hop retreat in silence. The waves lap gently at the shore right by their feet. For the first time since arriving, Bede is stricken by the beauty of this tableau: the pearly clouds turned pink and gold by the gentle sunset, the vivid greens and blues of untouched nature. This Isle is utterly Edenic in its majesty and natural beauty.

Gloria clears her throat.

“Thank you,” she says, giving him a watery smile.

Then her bottom lip trembles and she bursts into tears.

Bede practically spins in confused circles as he tries to make heads or tails of their current situation.

 _‘Be kind to all of your opponents, especially the losers,’_ Ms Opal had always taught him. ‘ _Because in a few years’ time, they’ll return to you with hell to pay.’_

But Gloria isn’t a weepy Challenger who’s just lost fantastically to the Ballonlea Gym Leader.

Bede has no clue why she’s crying, actually. Nothing about the past few minutes seems worth crying over, save for the frightening experience of facing down an angry Dynamaxed Pokémon with only Urshifu to back her up.

He awkwardly pats her back, because that’s what people do in movies.

Gloria heaves a sob and turns to rest her forehead against Bede’s shoulder.

“I’m s-sorry,” she stammers into his coat.

“This is machine washable,” says Bede stupidly, not even sure what he’s blathering right now. Gloria’s forehead against his shoulder sort of short circuits any rational thought.

It squeezes a pathetic little laugh out of her, at least. “Good to know,” she says, voice muffled and shy. “But I meant… um, about… having a meltdown in front of you.”

“You don’t need to apologise for your feelings,” says Bede. He pats her on the arm this time, trying to think of other things people did to comfort their… friends. If Gloria even counts as his.

“You’re actually really sweet, you know that?” she says, and he can hear the smile in her voice without seeing it.

“I’m not,” Bede disagrees. “It’s why I have no friends.”

Gloria laughs wetly. This time, she’s the one to pat Bede’s arm gently.

“ _I'_ _m_ your friend, you prat,” she says, lifting her head to meet his gaze directly. Her eyes are swollen and shiny with unshed tears, and her face is pink and raw and so very vulnerable. Bede instinctively wants to look away, the better to give her some privacy while she pulls herself back together, but something about the look she’s giving him stops him from doing that. She’s never looked at him like this before. Probably no one ever has.

Head emptied of all sense, Bede reaches for her chin and takes it between his fingers. He tilts her face up to his slowly, mesmerised by her curious expression.

“Bede?”

He blinks.

Before he can let go and collect himself again, Gloria levels him with a determined look and says softly, “I’m offering,” and tugs him down for a kiss.

It’s… salty and rather wet, nothing special or electric, but it still makes his heart blaze with triumph and affection and something resembling joy. He lets his eyelids flutter shut and kisses her back, hands drifting to her shoulders.

The world seems brighter after they pull apart. The colours are so vivid and close. Bede stares around with hazy eyes, punch-drunk and utterly confused by their current situation.

His words from before come back abruptly. ‘ _Are you offering?_ ’ he’d asked her, and she’d erupted in delighted giggles. But not before she’d stared at him in barely concealed awe first.

“Thank you,” says Bede. His face feels very hot.

Gloria grins and shakes her head. “Thank _you,_ ” she says. “My knight in shining armour.”

It’s a joke, clearly, but it still makes his heart do somersaults in his chest.

“Let’s head back to the dojo with this blasted honey,” says Bede before either of them can do something else embarrassing and awkward.

Gloria nods a bit too vigorously. She reaches for his hand, curling her fingers with his own.


End file.
